The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 2.8 This Britney Spears Controversy Exposes A Lot, YT "Prank Robbery" Goes Wrong, Bitcoin, &

Starting point is 00:00:00 Sup, you beautiful bastards. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show. It is Monday, February 8th, 2021. Hit that like button, otherwise it will punch you in the throat. And let's just jump into the news of the day so you can get back to yours. At first up today, we have entertainment news,

Starting point is 00:00:15 starting with, I guess, a story that could be helpful for aspiring artists. So just to be clear, this is not my advice, but statistically, it may be helpful if you just start saying the N-word and then hope that someone films you and uploads it to the internet. And the reason I say that is,

Starting point is 00:00:30 you know how last Tuesday, TMZ released a video showing Morgan Wallen using the N-word. He was then suspended by his label, dropped from country radio stations, condemned by several major artists. Well, according to Rolling Stone, who put out a report this weekend, his sales are not suffering.

Starting point is 00:00:44 And in fact, as a result, his album sales saw a 1,220% increase on Wednesday compared to Tuesday. And his song sales were up 327%. Even though he was removed from top playlists on Apple Music and Spotify, his streams did not drop on Wednesday. And I would be lying to you

Starting point is 00:01:00 if I said any of this was surprising. As I've said in the past, if you're talking about a celebrity, I find it exceptionally rare for someone to actually get canceled. I'm not saying they don't get hate, but outside of a person hurting someone else or especially children or committing a crime,

Starting point is 00:01:14 it is incredibly rare for someone who is already famous to then just get kind of get pushed away and die off. It can happen to everyday people because, you know, they might lose their job, might not be able to get a new job, but you're talking about someone that already has a massive audience and a way to distribute stuff to those fans that make them money. But also who knows,

Starting point is 00:01:32 maybe this is kind of a short-term thing. Maybe there are further longer term consequences, but I, I wouldn't bet on that. But I also say that as someone that bet that the chiefs would win last night and yeah, that didn't work out great. Never bet against Tom Brady. I never learned my lesson. Then in a story 99% of us said would happen

Starting point is 00:01:51 during what has been reported as a robbery prank video for YouTube, a man in Tennessee was shot and killed on Friday night. With Nashville Metro Police releasing a statement saying the 20 year old Timothy Wilkes and a friend were in a parking lot of a local business and approached a group of people with butcher knives as part of their prank.

Starting point is 00:02:06 One of those people was 23 year old David Starnes Jr. who was unaware this was a prank and he shot Wilkes. Reportedly homicide unit detectives are now investigating a self-defense claim and no charges have been placed yet. As of right now, several outlets have contacted Nashville police for details like the status of Wilkes' friend and whether or not Starnes had a permit, but so far those details remain unavailable.

Starting point is 00:02:26 But yeah, just so we are clear, if all of the details so far are correct, that is not a prank. That would at the very least be harassment, threat with a deadly weapon, and if I was in a similar situation and I was armed, I would defend myself. If you force a person into this situation,

Starting point is 00:02:41 not even in the top 10 things that should come to mind for that person is maybe this is a prank. This is classic DeFranco University 101 stuff. Don't be stupid, stupid. And I mean that not just for this one situation, though it does appear as based off of what we know that it does apply, but also to other people that do things like this

Starting point is 00:02:59 and also people that fake things like this and they help normalize it and make other people think that it's okay. And also understand I get no joy out of the, I told you so nature of stories like this and they help normalize it and make other people think that it's okay. And also understand I get no joy out of the, I told you so nature of stories like this. I get no joy out of any aspect of this because this is a lose-lose situation across the board. Someone lost their life,

Starting point is 00:03:15 family and friends also impacted there, and someone took a life which has mental consequences. Life is already hard enough for people. There's no reason we need to add easily avoidable hurt. And then for our final bit of entertainment slash entertainer news, let's talk about Britney Spears back in the news. And this largely because we've seen people re-examining

Starting point is 00:03:32 the way that Britney Spears has been treated by the public and the media after the documentary framing Britney Spears came out over the weekend. Right, as Britney grew up, she struggled in the spotlight. She was a punchline, she was a punching bag. She was dismissed as crazy, but the documentary looks at her

Starting point is 00:03:44 from a much more sympathetic perspective. It explores her career, the conservatorship that she's in under her father, and the media and paparazzi's treatment of her. Which, I will say, one of the most eye-opening things of this is there was a paparazzo that they were interviewing. Seeing the way that he kind of deflects, and it appears that the story he tells himself,

Starting point is 00:04:02 so he's not the bad guy in this. It was really eyeopening. But yeah, one of the main things with this is that it prompted many people to look back at the narratives that have surrounded Britney Spears' career and evaluate the way that we thought about her, with the way we spoke about her, saying she deserved better and that we owe her an apology.

Starting point is 00:04:17 With some saying things like, "'Our entire society is a humiliating, violently misogynistic failure, and I'm ashamed of a media culture that for decades villainized her for money and sport, conditioning us to think it was funny. Others adding things like seeing all of this now kind of packaged the way that it's packaged. Do they understand how she was pushed to her limits?

Starting point is 00:04:35 Why she did things like attack the paparazzi with an umbrella? Also bring up the fact that she was hyper-sexualized at such a young age. And for comparison's sake, she was dealing with all of this when she was the same age as people like Charli D'Amelio. So it's so creepy to see these older men

Starting point is 00:04:50 openly commenting on her body in front of her, people speculating and asking her about her virginity. Another specific aspect of the documentary that many are focusing on is the way that it discusses her relationship with Justin Timberlake and the way their breakup unfolded, with it essentially saying that Justin Timberlake weaponized their breakup, painted this image

Starting point is 00:05:06 that he was the high school quarterback and she was kind of the school slut and she was the bad guy. You know, following this doc, we saw a lot of celebrities sharing support as well as meaningful comments like that of Hayley Williams, who said, no artist today would have to endure the literal torture that media society, utter misogynist inflicted upon her.

Starting point is 00:05:22 The mental health awareness conversation culturally could never be where it is without the awful price she has paid." And I think what Hayley Williams is saying there is true, and I think it's very unfortunate that it's true. I think it's also part of the reason we have so many fans and people now kind of aware and looking back, thanks to documentaries like this, going,

Starting point is 00:05:37 "'Hey, there needs to be some sense of justice, at least some apologies, because really the only person that ended up being a victim of this situation was Britney Spears. Because it very much appears you have this strong, talented woman and everything has been stripped away from her. And seemingly everyone who has ever helped strip away,

Starting point is 00:05:55 whether it be the media or the people around her, or some would argue the family with a conservatorship, everyone else has benefited. Which, hey, very unfortunately is the reality of most situations, but having such a bright spotlight on it, it's hard not to just feel disgusted by it all. Yeah, with this story, especially if you've now seen the documentary,

Starting point is 00:06:13 I would love to know your thoughts on it. Then in business slash money news, we should talk about in an SEC filing today, Tesla announced that it had bought $1.5 billion in Bitcoin. Also with this, Tesla said that it would begin accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment for its products in the near future. Also with the news of Tesla's investment

Starting point is 00:06:29 it sent Bitcoin's price surging to record highs this morning passing $44,000 for the first time. But with like everything cryptocurrency and also specifically Bitcoin, we kind of have to wait and see what happens next. Though I do believe this is a great sign and kind of just one of many good signs if you're a supporter of Bitcoin.

Starting point is 00:06:45 We've been seeing more and more adoption by the big, big, massive players. And when they start getting involved in the space that usually is a good thing. It helps legitimize and kind of mainstreamify something that has been in the mainstream and has been legitimate for many other individuals. And then, oh, let's talk about Utah, Utah.

Starting point is 00:07:04 But not all of Utah, but Utah! So the way the story goes is there's this charter school in Utah, and when they rolled out their Black History Month curriculum last week, there were a few parents that reached out to the school, requesting that their child not participate in the lessons. That then resulted in a Facebook post Friday, where the school's director said,

Starting point is 00:07:20 "'Reluctantly, I sent out a letter to our school community "'explaining that families are allowed "'to exercise their civil rights "'to not participate in Black History Month at the school.' said, reluctantly, I sent out a letter to our school community explaining the families are allowed to exercise their civil rights to not participate in Black History Month at the school. Parents were also sent an opt out form that they could fill out if they wanted their children excused.

Starting point is 00:07:31 With the school's director clarifying that he was saddened and disappointed by these requests, adding, we should not shield our children from the history of our nation, the mistreatment of its African American citizens and the bravery of civil rights leaders, but should educate them about it. Also adding that as someone whose great grandparents

Starting point is 00:07:46 were sent to Japanese internment camps, he personally sees a lot of value in teaching our children about the mistreatment, challenges, and obstacles that people of color in our nation have had to endure and what we can do today to ensure that such wrongs don't continue. And so with this movie, you had some parents praising the school

Starting point is 00:08:01 for giving parents the option, others calling the move dangerous, saying that it enables racism. That outrage eventually prompted the school for giving parents the option, others calling the move dangerous, saying that it enables racism. That outrage eventually prompted the school to issue another statement saying that it regretted ever sending out the opt-out form and adding, we are grateful that families

Starting point is 00:08:12 that initially had questions and concerns have willingly come to the table to resolve any differences. And at this time, no families are opting out of our planned activities and we have removed this option. In the future, we will handle all parental concerns on an individual basis. Which, hey, that's great. I'd love there we will handle all parental concerns on an individual basis.

Starting point is 00:08:25 Which, hey, that's great. I'd love there to be this nice little bow on an unfortunate situation, but the fact that we even had to go through this is sad and telling. And something I just feel like I need to say with this story, the white victimhood stuff needs to chill out. That knowledge of how black people were treated

Starting point is 00:08:40 for years and years, of how they're still being treated today, of how human beings are capable of such ugliness. That's important to have. And for some reason, in some people's brains, it turns into, why do you want me to feel guilty about being white? You didn't do it.

Starting point is 00:08:55 The only thing that's questionable in this situation is why you would want to minimize what happened in history. Very few people, a minute amount of people, want you to feel guilty or bad for being white. And most people just want to say, hey, acknowledge privilege that you and your ancestors have had. And understand if things are not working out great for you,

Starting point is 00:09:13 the last thing you want to hear is that you have some sort of advantage. But having done this for so long, I think I'm kind of just past the point of trying to coddle people because of their feelings when the reality of the situation is the reality of the situation. But that is where I'm gonna leave that one.

Starting point is 00:09:26 Then in international news, we should talk about the updates in Myanmar. So Myanmar had been relatively quiet since the military initiated a coup last week and arrested the popular leader Aung San Suu Kyi. But this weekend that all changed. All across Myanmar, protesters condemned the coup, demanding that Aung San Suu Kyi be released.

Starting point is 00:09:42 While the protests varied in size, nationwide hundreds of thousands took part. It's believed that the largest protest was in Mandalay, which is the country's second largest city. Military in Myanmar has also tried many tactics to downplay the protests and movement. Late last week, for example, they temporarily banned Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

Starting point is 00:09:59 in an attempt to slow down protest coordination efforts. Though some of those services seem to be up and running again as of this morning. Also, in addition to demanding the return of democracy, we've seen protesters calling for a general strike. And that appears to have been heard since a good amount of textile workers, civil servants, lawyers, doctors, and railway employees in Yangon,

Starting point is 00:10:16 which is the nation's largest city and commercial capital, walked out of work today. And on top of that, of course, protesters have continued to march in cities across the country. And with these protests seemingly growing stronger, the military has also begun more severe restrictions. For example, they declared martial law

Starting point is 00:10:30 in Mandalay this morning. Also, Capitol Police began using stronger force to deal with protesters, including water cannons. Movement has also caused the military leader to come out for the first time since the coup and address the nation. With him continuing to try to justify the coup by saying that there was massive voter fraud

Starting point is 00:10:44 in the 2020 election and that there would be new elections within a year. Also warning against further protests, though that has largely been ignored so far. But for now, this situation is still growing. It is still developing. And so we'll have to wait and see what happens next. Then let's talk US politics, starting with the news today

Starting point is 00:11:00 that Senate Democrats are rolling out legislation that will provide up to $3,600 per child to millions of Americans as part of the broader stimulus package. Under the bill, the IRS would send qualifying families $3,600 over the course of a year or $300 a month for every child under the age of six, as well as $3,000 a year or $250 a month for each child ages six to 17. Those payments would also be phased out for people who earn $75,000 a year or married couples who jointly earn $150,000. And if approved, the payments would start going out in July, thus giving the IRS time to implement this massive program.

Starting point is 00:11:32 Now, very notably here, even though the Democrats bill would implement this plan by changing the tax code to expand the existing child tax credit, the benefits would reportedly not be deducted from any tax debt a family might have, meaning American parents would still receive direct monthly payments

Starting point is 00:11:45 even if they owe back taxes or have preexisting obligations to the IRS. And while the current proposal would only last for a year, some Democrats have said that they will later push to make it permanent, which is a move that would totally reshape the fight against child poverty in the United States and could be a defining feature of Biden's economic agenda.

Starting point is 00:12:00 Or because as far as does the United States need this outside of the pandemic? Well, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United States need this outside of the pandemic? Well, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United States has one of the highest rates of child poverty in the developed world. In large part because it spends less in child benefits than almost any other developed country.

Starting point is 00:12:14 And even with just the year long benefit expansion, researchers at Columbia University have found that it would cut the number of children in poverty by up to 54%, or roughly 5 million children. Well, of course the current proposal is subject to change as negotiations continue. As of right now, it seems as though it has enough support. Very significantly here,

Starting point is 00:12:30 it might even have bipartisan support because last week we saw Mitt Romney introduce a similar measure. Under Romney's plan, qualifying families would be sent even more money, up to $350 a month per child. But very notably, his proposal would also offset costs by eliminating or cutting other government safety debt spending that has been crucial during the pandemic.

Starting point is 00:12:47 And by contrast, the Democrats proposal which has been estimated to cost upward of $120 billion per year would be added to the national deficit. So as a result, many Republicans have pushed back on this plan with some also arguing that it would give money to both working and non-working Americans.

Starting point is 00:13:00 Though of course, some of the counter arguments here, one, so with the stimulus checks, two, a lot of people don't have jobs because of the pandemic, not because they're lazy, and three, American parents who are out of jobs arguably need the support the most. But even if the Democrats don't get any GOP members on board, it probably won't matter.

Starting point is 00:13:15 Because on Friday, both the Senate and the House approved budget blueprints that will allow them to approve Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus without any Republicans. This through a process known as budget reconciliation, which as we've mentioned before, will allow the Democrats to push through this final package with 50 votes rather than the 60 normally required

Starting point is 00:13:30 for large legislation like this. And as for when we can expect to see the proposal signed into law, last week, House Speaker Pelosi said she expects her chamber to pass it within two weeks. But a quick passage in the House does not mean the same for the Senate. If there is zero bipartisan support for this package, which seems increasingly likely,

Starting point is 00:13:45 Biden has to ensure that all 50 Democrats are on board in order to pass this legislation, which means that Biden has to pay very close attention to the desires of more moderate Democrat senators like Joe Manchin, who notably here has expressed concerns about stimulus checks going out to too many Americans. Like we talked about last week, Biden's current plan would send direct payments of $1,400

Starting point is 00:14:02 to Americans who make up to $75,000 and another $1,400 for dependents. But Manchin has said that that is too broad and instead favors capping the income limit at $50,000 a year. And while Biden has said that he has opened a negotiation on this front, some Democrats have rejected that call. This, including the likes of Bernie Sanders,

Starting point is 00:14:19 who has urged Biden and his other Senate colleagues not to cut the current income threshold for the checks. It's also not just the progressive members of Congress that have argued this. In an interview with CNN yesterday, for example, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen appeared to argue that the $50,000 cap that Manchin has been pushing for is too low.

Starting point is 00:14:34 If you think about an elementary school teacher, policeman making $60,000 a year and faced with children who were out of school and people who may have had to withdraw from the labor force in order to take care of them and many extra burdens. I would, he thinks, and I would certainly agree that it's appropriate for people there to get support. Yellen also saying that if Biden's full plan was passed, the United States could reach full employment by next year. Which, I mean, regarding jobs,

Starting point is 00:15:10 the jobs report for the first month of 2021 showed that 49,000 jobs were added to the economy and unemployment fell to 6.3%. But the United States is still down nearly 10 million jobs since before the pandemic. And while economists do say that things will get better as more and more people get vaccinated, the road to recovery is very long

Starting point is 00:15:27 and additional stimulus is absolutely essential to ensuring that happens. Right, more often than not, if we look back historically, one of the most common things said about numerous recoveries we've seen in the past is more should have been done by the government. You can have high hopes and expectations for jobs numbers, but just looking historically,

Starting point is 00:15:44 providing less stimulus usually results in less results. And then, even though I think we almost all know what is likely going to happen, I should mention this because it's going to take over headlines tomorrow, tomorrow is the beginning of President Trump's second impeachment trial. This, of course, after the House voted 232 to 197 to charge Trump with incitement of insurrection.

Starting point is 00:16:04 But the House impeachment manager is also filing an 80 page brief outlining what they plan to say, notably saying that Trump was singularly responsible for the insurrection, arguing that he intentionally whipped his supporters into a frenzy that endangered the life of every single member of Congress. But as far as Trump's side, they're gonna mainly argue two things.

Starting point is 00:16:20 One, that Trump did not direct anyone to commit unlawful actions, right? Arguing that Donald Trump in his speech right before the attack where he said, "'Fight like hell,' saying we're gonna march down there," that that wasn't really him saying what happened. And secondly, they're going to argue that the Senate lacks jurisdiction to try a president

Starting point is 00:16:34 who has already left office and thus is a private citizen. And that, the second argument in my opinion, is how Senate Republicans, at least publicly facing, are going to justify not convicting Trump. I mean, already in the Senate, all but five members voted in favor of a resolution that would throw out the case on the grounds that it was unconstitutional.

Starting point is 00:16:50 And even if those five voted to convict, you'd still need 12 other Republican members to join all Democrats, which is why I think many people, including myself, believe we already know what's going to happen. Honestly, I think the only way Trump could get convicted is if there was an anonymous vote. Because honestly, there's just so many Republicans

Starting point is 00:17:05 that are terrified of their base and how much they love Donald Trump. I mean, unless something drastically changes or you live in a very purple state, you're essentially saying, this is gonna be my last term. That's the really unfortunate reality. And I also understand from a strategy standpoint,

Starting point is 00:17:19 it might not be in the interest of Democrats to try to impeach and then not get the conviction. Are you gonna have Trump out there being like, I was totally exonerated a second time, even though it's because my friends are on the jury. But if you're in a position of power, you don't try to hold someone accountable and try for there to be some sense of justice,

Starting point is 00:17:36 then why are you even fucking there? I would argue that not even trying would be a way worse precedent to set. Though, maybe that's short-sighted. At the end of the day, strategy and positioning, that's the real important thing. At least when you're talking about short-term implications. And of course with this or honestly anything else that stuck out to you today,

Starting point is 00:17:51 I would love to know your thoughts in those comments down below because this is the end of today's show. As always, thanks for being a part of my daily dives into the news here. Thank you for subscribing, liking, all the good stuff. If you're looking for more to watch, you can click or tap right there.

Starting point is 00:18:03 But as always, I love your faces and you've just been filled in with news that matters for people that care. I'll see you tomorrow.

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The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 2.8 This Britney Spears Controversy Exposes A Lot, YT "Prank Robbery" Goes Wrong, Bitcoin, &

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